Creative Arts Workshops for Kids Inc. DBA Creative Art Works

CAWs mission is to improve the life of New York City youth through the visual and multimedia arts. CAW serves thousands of young people each year, primarily in Upper Manhattan, through in-school and out-of-school-time classes,(continued on Schedule O)

CAW seeks to improve and enhance the lives of underserved, under-resourced New York City youth by leaving them more civically engaged and better prepared for college or career, with greater confidence in themselves and with optimism for the future. Working in underserved neighborhoods of New York City in public schools, community centers, juvenile detention facilities, parks, and libraries, CAW provides dynamic creative youth development opportunities for young people who otherwise lack access. CAW operates four key programs, serving a range of ages from 4-24, all designed to build self-confidence, unlock a love of learning, enhance creative and critical thinking, improve cooperation, leadership, public speaking, and job skills; and to deepen the relationship between art, youth, and community.

Goal One: CAW’s programming aims to not only expose New York City students to the arts, but to encourage their personal growth and their engagement with their communities.

Goal Two: CAW aims to increase its impact by growing the depth and scale of partnerships with schools, local organizations, and city agencies, and by increasing the number of community members served.

Goal Three: CAW aims to improve its long-term sustainability, employee retention, and capacity for expanding services through investments in its staff and by diversifying its working partnerships.

This past year, Creative Art Works instituted a professional development series for its Teaching Artists and Teaching Artist Assistants. Four-hour PDsessions take place thrice per year and as necessary, coinciding with our trimester program calendar. TAs are compensated for PD time. CAW also recruits standout program participants as Teaching Artist Assistants, offering them a direct pipeline from their CAW internships towards employment. One standout Youth Apprentice now works as a full-time CAW employee, as a Program Associate and Teaching Artist. Creative Art Works is a member of local and national arts education organizations. In the past year, Creative Art Works sent its Executive Director, Program Managers, and available Teaching Artists to the 2023 New York City Arts in Education Roundtable to attend panels, workshops, reports, and other presentations designed to advance their leadership skills, introduce new practices and pedagogy, and connect them with peers in the field.

In January 2023, Creative Art Works has undertaken some carefully planned executive transitions, with the continuity of leadership to ensure the organization's stability. Prior Executive Director & CEO Brian Ricklin remains on the Board in a newly elected position as President, where he will focus on board, strategic, and new business development together with Andrew Levin, who is continuing as Chairman. In line with CAW’s long established succession plan, Karen Jolicoeur, who joined the organization as Director of Development in 2012 and became Deputy Director in 2017, has assumed the position of Executive Director, bringing her decades of experience in the arts, nonprofit, and business spheres to the organization’s leadership. CAW has also made related, sustainability-focused changes to its core staff, in the past year and beyond, including bringing the accounting function in-house, with the creation of a Director of Finance & Administration position, and adding a full-time Development Manager. At the same time, we have created a somewhat flatter organization and enhanced efficiency for program staff and partners alike, transitioning from a Program Director, two Program Managers and a Program Coordinator to a new roster of Program Managers dedicated to specific program portfolios: · Ivory Nunez-Medrano, Teaching and Learning; · Riki Sabel, In-School Programs and Public Art Youth Employment; · Donna Manganello, Out-of-School-Time Programs and Metrics & Reporting. Collectively, these Program Managers bring experience in arts education, program development, institutional logistics, child and adolescent development, and more. They are supported by a full-time Program Associate and Teaching Artist Madeline de Leon, who was previously a YA in CAW’s Public Art Youth Employment Program.